


WORLDS AWAY, WORLDS TOGETHER

by necroneol



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, featuring the idea of ddd's split reality traverse town...thanks Joshua
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2020-11-09 04:48:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20847767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necroneol/pseuds/necroneol
Summary: thank you so much for your support! I'm so incredibly grateful to be a part of this zine, and it was a wonderful first experience! I hope you enjoy all the hard work we put into this <3





	WORLDS AWAY, WORLDS TOGETHER

“Sora.”

Riku nearly cringes at the sound of his own lonely voice as he sets his shoes beside him where he sits and lowers himself onto the edge of the tiled fountain pool. He frowns, and his brow pinches in, and he slowly draws his hands into his lap. His bare feet move back and forth in the cooling water, providing some relief from the humid, heavy night. The constantly shining, blindingly bright neon lights probably don’t help to calm the smothering summer air, but then, what would Traverse Town be without them?

Riku clears his throat and rolls his head back—because he can’t stand seeing Sora there, so close beside him, yet impossible to touch—and through heavy eyelids he stares sleepily up at the night sky.

“Sora,” he repeats again, quieter this time. In his lap, his hands rub up and down the rough fabric of his acid washed jeans until coming to curl into loose fists. Still he does not spare a glance in the direction of his companion’s transparent figure. “How are you doing on your end of things?”

Of course, there’s no answer, but Riku tries not to take it too personally. He smiles a little to himself, though perhaps wryly, and closes his eyes.

“I think I’m starting to like this Joshua guy. He’s a little shady, but it seems like all he wants is to help his friends…Kinda like you, Sora. I bet you’re having no trouble at all befriending everyone on your side, huh?” A little laugh, and Riku’s hand comes up from his thigh to scrub at his nose. “You’re too likable…it’s a little weird, y’know?”

Riku sighs. His hand falls now to his side, where it lands inside Sora’s. Riku does not open his eyes, but he can feel it; their hands fading through one another is like a million tiny pinpricks on his skin, tangible static. Sora is smiling down at their hands laid together where, on his side of the world, his hand falls through Riku’s just the same.

Sora laughs. Riku’s quip sounds quiet like a whisper beside him, but he hears it well enough to recognize the bittersweet laughter in its sound. “I think you’re just too prickly, Riku. Maybe you should try lightening up a little!”

Riku does not hear him.

He continues on cluelessly, “I wish you were here with me right now. We’ve only just started our exams, but it feels like it’s been ages already. Maybe I’m just out of shape, I don’t know.” He rolls his head forward again, letting it hang solemnly over his chest. Reluctantly, he opens his eyes to gaze at the water below him, where his sad expression in mirrored back in warped reflection. From the corner of his sight, he sees his fingers resting through Sora’s, and his grip on the edge of the fountain pool tightens until he is white-knuckled. He takes a shallow breath, and finally gathers enough nerve to glance at the boy beside him. He is not surprised to find Sora grinning like an idiot. “What do you think, Sora?” he muses aloud, staring at his companion’s ghost of a smile.

Sora’s mouth moves, but no sound reaches Riku’s ears. Figures. If only Riku knew how to read lips. Yet another sigh, and Riku kicks his heel rather roughly against the tile behind his foot with mild frustration. This—this was torture. To see Sora grinning beside him after they had finally reconciled, after they had finally reunited, after Riku had finally made amends with himself and yet...it was all a ruse. Sora felt farther away than ever before.

And Sora can see it, the disappointment on his face. It makes Sora’s heart twist. “I miss you, Riku,” Sora mutters, offering a softer, sadder smile after his usual beaming, toothy grin. As if his comforting words, if he says them sweet enough, will somehow reach Riku’s aching ears.

“I miss you, Sora,” Riku whispers, corners of his mouth pulling into a frown. His chest swells. A surge of bravery washes over him. Under the hand of this courage, he continues on, unaware that Sora is already making a spill of his own on his side of Traverse Town:

“I keep thinking about when this will all be over. The fighting, the running, the hurt. When we can—“

“When do you think things will go back to the way they were before? When we were kids and—“

“Just be normal kids, ya know? I never thought I’d say it but…I miss school. I miss our teachers. I miss the islands. I miss the store clerks and the dog by the pier that always stole your snacks. I miss Wakka, and Tidus, and Selphie. Mom, Dad—“

“All we had to worry about was whether we put on enough sunscreen and who to bum our homework from when summer break ended. And we could eat all the junkfood we wanted ‘cause we didn’t have to worry about staying in shape to defend the Worlds. We could sleep in and we could stay up until sunrise telling stories with Kairi. I really miss those days. I want to be with you again, like—“

“I miss being with you like—“

_ “Like two kids.” _

On Riku’s end, he lets out a sad, hopeless scoff. As if he’s already given up on the idea of returning to normalcy. Sora worries that maybe he has. Maybe this whole ordeal has changed him. He squeezes the tile edge where Riku’s hand should be.

Yes, where it  _ should _ be. Where it would be if Sora had any say in the matter. Their fingers are laced together as much as they can be without actually physically occupying the same plane of existence, which was quite an odd thing to think about, really.

“Once this all comes to an end— _ if  _ this all comes to an end...I want to live a normal life again. With you, Sora,” Riku runs his free hand down his face, over his neck, and tugs on his high collar. Maybe this heat was getting to him. “I was unsure at first, when this all began, but I know now...I need to be with you.” Or maybe it was the quiet of the Fourth District, and the assumption that Sora was just as clueless as he was that allowed him to feel safe, as if he could plainly speak his mind. 

If only he knew the truth of the matter. If only he knew that Sora was clinging to his every word, desperately holding on to every promise of a future together. A future where they were  _ just kids again. _

“I love you, Sora,” Riku mutters, “I really love you. I can’t wait for those days to come.”

Sora’s face burns, but he smiles. Now, it’s his turn to close his eyes and let his head roll back between his shoulders. The prickling of his skin tickles, but it’s a funny feeling and it’s warm and it’s the closest thing to Riku’s touch he has right now. His heart squeezes at the thought, the reminder that Riku is worlds away, and yet not very far from him at all, and all he can do is try to find comfort in this paradoxical proximity and the bittersweet promises it provides.

“Yeah. Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for your support! I'm so incredibly grateful to be a part of this zine, and it was a wonderful first experience! I hope you enjoy all the hard work we put into this <3


End file.
